Last-gasp South Africa penalty sinks Lions

THERE have been few greater Test matches than this, the staggering epic in Pretoria, and there can surely have been no more bitingly cruel outcome in sport. The Lions, playing with desperate heroism and yet no little skill and power against a team that was always meant to be far too good for them, dominated large chunks of the match but died in the series when Morne Steyn kicked a penalty from inside his own half in the last act, after Ronan O'Gara had made a clumsy challenge.

On the final whistle most of the Lions sank to the ground, and some did not move for ages. The hearts of all those who have followed their fitful fortunes and of any sporting neutral must have gone out to them, and yet the truth is that